Labor and Immigration Reform in Agriculture | Kyle Farmer
About the Guest Kyle has a passion for teaching. He discovered this passion while working for Kaplan Test Prep as he finished his Political Science degree at Texas A&M University. He has carried this passion throughout his legal career, teaching clients as he helps them to find and understand legal pathways out of labor bottlenecks. His […]
Do We Think Pigs Are Happy? | Dr. David Beggs
About the Guest Dave has been a veterinarian for more than 25 years and a computer programmer for more than 30. After a long period as a mixed animal vet he is now an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne with a PhD in Animal Welfare of cattle, where he undertakes research in dairy […]
Global Affairs In The Swine Industry | Dr. Jim Lowe
About the Guest Dr. Lowe is 1994 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and has been working with swine production companies across the United States since that time. Dr. Lowe completed the college’s Executive Veterinary Program in Swine Health Management in 2000 and returned to campus as a student in 2002 […]
Talkin’ PRRS | Dr. Brandi Burton & Dr. Amanda Reever
About the Guest Dr. Amanda Reever was raised on a cattle, hog, and grain operation in Algona, IA, where she developed her interest in animal production and medicine. She received her DVM from Iowa State University in 2022, alongside a Master’s degree in Veterinary Preventive Medicine. Dr. Reever began working for Suidae right out of […]
Debunking Myths about Sustainability & Nutrition in Animal Agriculture | Tara Vander Dussen
About the Guest Tara is a New Mexico native, 5th generation dairy farmer, an environmental scientist, and mom of two girls. Daniel, her husband, manages all day-to-day on his family dairy farm while Tara has her own career as an environmental consultant, speaker, and online agriculture advocate. Tara began sharing her story online through her […]
Biosecurity Is A Journey | Dr. Derald Holtkamp
About the Guest Dr. Derald Holtkamp is a Professor in the Department of Veterinary Diagnostics and Production Animal Medicine (VDPAM) in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa, U.S.). He received his DVM, MS in Agricultural Economics, and B.S. in Agricultural Business with a minor in statistics, all from Iowa State […]
Oops We Did It Again | Joe Kerns
About the Guest Joseph Kerns, President of Partners for Production Agriculture, has thirty years’ experience working with producers, suppliers, and mills to support agricultural operations. He leads a team of professionals with the purpose of understanding the financial parameters around agricultural markets so that those that he works with can thrive and prosper.
Digital Farm & Technology Insights | David Speller
About the Guest From vegetable farm manager to global ISO auditor, David then moved into the poultry sector when he purchased a UK broiler farm in 2004 and continues to operate a contract poultry farm management company in the UK. In 2018, David founded OPTIFarm. OPTIfarm is a very unique data driven support service, currently […]
Proposals Impacting Animal Agriculture | Elizabeth Rumley
Elizabeth Rumley is a senior staff attorney at the National Agricultural Law Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. At the Center, her primary research and scholarship focus is on legal issues in animal agriculture, and she frequently lectures on those issues and others to audiences nationwide. She has co-taught a course covering “Animals and Agricultural Production, Law and Policy” at the University of Nebraska College of Law and the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and has developed and teaches a graduate/undergraduate course discussing legal issues in animal agriculture at the University of Arkansas. Additionally, she teaches Environmental Law at the University of Arkansas. She is licensed to practice law in Michigan, Ohio, and Oklahoma after earning her B.A. from Michigan State University, her J.D. cum laude from the University of Toledo College of Law, and her LL.M. in Agricultural Law from the University of Arkansas School of Law.
Our Great Resignation | Emily Erickson
Emily Erickson grew up on a small, diversified livestock and crop farm near Dundee, MN. Her parents bought their farm in the early ’80’s, right as the farm crisis hit. Her dad raised pigs outdoors, a farrow to finish operation of about 100 sows at the time, and also farmed corn, soybeans and usually oats, for bedding. Emily graduated from South Dakota State University with a B.S. in Animal Science. She was fortunate to fall into an animal welfare role for a production system right at the start of the industry reacting to activists and welfare videos. Emily spent 13 years internally auditing and monitoring the welfare of a 53,000 sow system. She has sat on the committees for National Pork Board and Minnesota Pork and is currently still engaged on the Common Swine Industry Audit Task Force, which she has been a part of since the CSIA’s inception. Emily is currently the Head of Human Resources for Wakefield Pork and lives in Jackson, MN with her two kiddos, August and Hazel, who keep her on her toes! They enjoy spending time outdoors, going to her parent’s home farm to ride/drive Grampa’s Kubota and spending time with family.
The Supreme Court Hearing of Prop 12 | Michael Formica
About the Guest In his capacity as Chief Legal Strategist for the National Pork Producers Council, Michael Formica works with state and federal lawmakers on pressing, high profile issues impacting livestock production. His work leading strategic legal initiatives has benefitted America’s 66,000 pig farmers across the country, including efforts to get NPPC’s challenge to California […]
Biosecurity Bootstrapped: An Entrepreneurs Journey
About the Guest Jeb Gent is the co-founder of Ascension Ag, a livestock biosecurity company. His focus is to solve niche biosecurity issues in swine and other large animal industries. He has a passion for helping people and solving problems. When he is not working, he is spending time with family and friends, driving tractors or […]